Projections and hopes

It’s the time to periodically predict what our nation shall become in the near future. Especially now that we are under a popularly elected president, hopes and expectations are understandably high.

To a certain degree, our evaluation of the real situation is a distorted version of our desperate desire that everything shall improve. Our nation is in a deep and prolonged economic distress, which has caused hardships and social injustice to millions of Filipinos.

More often, in each ending of the year and towards the dawn of the new one, I am asked through emails and personal conversations on what I believe will be the country’s chances in overcoming our perennial challenges. I have been writing since 2014, my answers were essentially the same.

In fact, I’ll have the same litany. Why is there no clear difference in what I’ll narrate now? Obviously because this, for me, is the stark truth.

The same causes will yield the same problems. Individually, we have chosen many exemplary professionals, businessmen and experts to handle our government. Our politicians, generally, are experts in their respective fields and endeavors prior to joining public service. How come, based on reports, our country is ranked 46th out of 85 in the world in terms of economic progress?

If we shall consider our country as a corporate or business enterprise, the series of top management that we’ve had failed in the competition. They have not, unlike our neighbors such as Malaysia, Singapore and even Vietnam, made our economy competitive. Around 20 percent of our countrymen live below the poverty threshold.

This means that we have more than 20 million people who are deprived of access to regular meals. Their children cannot enjoy the privilege of basic education and literacy. They are also the ones who have no decent shelters. For them, their most realistic goal is mere survival. The pursuit of comfort is no longer a part of their aspirations. They simply have to find the food that will sustain them daily with the hope that they shall not encounter any medical emergencies. They no longer see the means to be emancipated from extreme poverty.

Meanwhile, we have around two million overseas workers who have prevented themselves of living with their loved ones in order to support their families with the dollars that they selflessly remit back. They provide our economy the lifeblood that has kept our economy afloat.

Annually, they send at least P150 billion that their relatives spend for consumption, education and sometimes, houses and vehicles.

Unfortunately, many of these so-called modern-day heroes fall victim to investment scams, family break-ups, juvenile problems and abuses such as contractual violations and physical assaults.

Can we see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel? I like to utter yes. But the reality compels us to argue that not unless we bravely embrace and pursue the needed fundamental changes that shall deliver the results needed by our people, then we are destined to foolishly suffer the same fate as those that have come before us. The expectations created by the recent elections will slowly be extinguished and evolve to helplessness.

Don’t anymore delay the urgent fundamental reforms and basic changes. First, we must revisit the Constitution. We must immediately alter the features that can initiate the series of wealth creation and vibrant flow of investments.

The economic provisions, for example, that don’t allow 100 percent foreign ownership of enterprises must be amended. This is already an anathema to global trends. This is the number one disincentive against huge foreign direct investments. Common sense dictates that owners of funds must fully control the companies that shall manage and own their operations. Dummies are simply installed to obviously circumvent this rule. Hence, why not relax this unnecessary ownership requirement?

The foreign land-ownership prohibition is another hurdle that our economic progress encounters. The extreme paranoia that foreigners will purchase the whole archipelago must be counterbalanced with the fact that countries that allow foreign ownership of real properties have not suffered this fear.

If the situation is stable, let’s be open-minded in considering other political weaknesses enshrined in our fundamental laws, such as the political form of our government, two-party system and other similar backward provisions.

Cut the red tape to achieve real ease in doing business. We are notoriously slow in our bureaucratic steps that cause a simple business registration to take around two months.

So going back to the question whether or not we expect meaningful improvements in the near future. My reply is the same. We must roll out the reform agenda if we are to expect that things will become better.